Wichita Eagle: Annie Calovich

In search of evergreens for Kansas

Annie Calovich — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:13 CDT

There’s nothing like a couple of years of drought to get us wondering just what kind of evergreens we can plant in the Wichita area.

Blue spruces have fried in the past couple of years; pines have been hit by disease.

But this is the prairie, after all. Kansas is the only state in the Lower 48 that doesn’t have a native pine tree. We’re not the icy-cold tundra of the Upper Midwest, where native pines can take the cold winters, and we’re not the desert Southwest, where native pines can take the hot wind.

Garden tour shows ways to landscape across a spectrum of yards

Annie Calovich — Sat, 11 May 2013 07:09 CDT

I forgot that I was heading for Surrey Lane until I slowed toward the stop sign at 45th Street and Maize Road and saw a horse in a pasture scratch his chin on a fence post.

Welcome to the surprises from this year’s master-gardener garden tour, the annual staycation that lets us explore different parts of town, be transported by bodies of water and large trees, see how the other garden half lives, and get ideas to take back home to our own yards. Not a bad return for 10 bucks and some gasoline.

This year’s tour, which is three days next weekend starting Friday, hits all points east, west, north and south. The stops include two gardens that back up to the river, a forest-y garden in old Maize, a Midtown landmark and a little gem in Lincoln Heights that shows you can have breakfast on the front porch. And that you should hang more than one kind of wind chimes to tinkle in the breeze.

Parsley, sage, elderberry and thyme

Annie Calovich — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:28 CDT

Every spring seems to bring new ideas for ways to use herbs. And, of course, new varieties to try.

This year, I like the idea of using rosemary as a low evergreen edge to a garden bed.

Writes Norman Winter, executive director of the Columbus (Ga.) Botanical Garden, about rosemary: “Not only is it a fixture in the herb garden but is used as a backdrop for seasonal color, like pansies, in much the same way you might use a dwarf conifer.”

Swiss chard: a miracle in the garden?

Annie Calovich — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 07:18 CDT

I’m a note-taker. And not just because I’m a newspaper reporter. I usually write a fresh to-do list every morning, and, if I’m in the mood, I keep track of daily goals. (I’m usually not in the mood.)

I’ve found recently that I have to have white paper to write on. Steno green doesn’t do it, nor does legal-pad yellow. Recycled gray definitely won’t make the grade. If I’m to have the energy to attack the day, white it must be.

I’m sure it’s because my eyes are getting older, and I need sharp contrast.

Going native for landscape relief

Annie Calovich — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 07:26 CDT

As director of Dyck Arboretum of the Plains in Hesston, Scott Vogt hears from people who are looking for alternatives to the traditional landscape they’ve been trying to keep alive through the drought.

“They’re looking for drought-tolerant plants that require less water and less time,” Vogt says. “A lot of times their plants have been on life support, so they’re looking for something they’re not going to be so tied to.”

Dyck Arboretum grows native plants and educates people about how to use them. One way it does that is through its FloraKansas plant sale in the spring and the fall. The spring sale starts Friday (Thursday for members) and goes for four days. Experts will be available to help in choosing appropriate plants for particular landscape situations. A new addition this year will be a native-music festival – the Prairiestock Local Music Festival, featuring south-central Kansas musicians, on April 27.

Gardener corrals plants into themed container combos

Annie Calovich — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 07:41 CDT

He hasn’t done it for years, but Ron Marcum of Dutch’s Greenhouse decided to name his container gardens this year.

The names come to him in the night, and he can’t sleep until he’s written them down.

Loads of Lemons (LOL).

Annie Calovich: Daffodils equal spring

Annie Calovich — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 07:46 CDT

Spring brings so much joy.

I tried to be upbeat about this past winter – for the first time ever – and it helped. It really did.

But once the sunshine started washing over green grass, yellow daffodils and pink cherries, I had to wonder where we got the fortitude to get through the short, cold, dark days.

Tree Fest, farmers market opening next weekend

Annie Calovich — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 07:18 CDT

Easter will be here Sunday, and new life is all around us. But we have a bit of a warm-up left before the tulips start busting out all over. Then – watch out! A lot is about to happen.

• On Monday, cue the beginning of April. No foolin’. Right now the forecast calls for a progression of rain chances – except for a sunny Easter Sunday. As much as I love the sun, a rainy forecast can only be a cause for rejoicing. May April showers bring May flowers.

• April 6 will bring the master gardeners’ annual Tree Festival at the Extension Center and the opening of the farmers market in the parking lot.

Planning for moisture, gardeners plant fruit

Annie Calovich — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 07:29 CDT

It’s been lovely to watch more new growth come out this first week of spring – more daffodils blooming and tulips popping up, quince and forsythia starting to show some color – albeit with snow in the forecast.

But far from dimming the anticipation of spring, the chance of moisture holds out hope that we’ll have a break in the drought, and a shot at being able to garden normally this year.

It’s with such a hope that people are planting gardens now. Extension agent Rebecca McMahon reminds us that even though we’ve had some cold days, it is indeed the season for planting the cool-season garden. When the soil is sufficiently dry, a whole host of fruits and vegetables can start their amazing journey in our yards: rhubarb, strawberries, potatoes, onions, peas, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, radishes, onions, spinach, turnips, beets.

As spring arrives, consider yard plants’ water needs

Annie Calovich — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:59 CDT

Unlike a winter that held back until the end, spring is not holding back.

We’ve had some firmly warm days, daylight saving time is here, grass is greening up, and spring officially starts on Wednesday. Extension agent Bob Neier said that after the recent snow, he checked moisture levels in a couple of spots at the Extension Center in west Wichita. He said that both an area that was watered last year and one that has not been watered in years were moist a foot down.

“No one should be watering now,” he said.

Keep the lawn alive with a minimum of water

Annie Calovich — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:10 CDT

As the city of Wichita considers watering restrictions, The Eagle has been asking people about their own water use and how they might conserve water.

One of the responses – “I suppose you could water only every three days or so” – points up the potential confusion that people have about watering.

Watering every three days may sound like it’s conserving compared to someone who waters every day. But watering is not about frequency. It’s about what a plant needs and making sure that the needed water is soaking in, not running off. In our desire to set sprinkling systems so we can forget them, a lot of water is being wasted in Wichita. And in the midst of a drought, we’re running out of it.

Drought’s influence seen at Outdoor Living and Landscape Show

Annie Calovich — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:10 CDT

Snow was on the ground and a chill was in the air as people made their way indoors for the first day of the Outdoor Living and Landscape Show on Friday at Century II. It was perfect weather to go looking for an early taste of spring, on display at the show in blooming tulips, baby ducks, tomato plants and deck chairs.

But drought was also on people’s minds, as memories of the past two harsh summers collided with visions of fresh spring landscapes.

“Everyone is getting worried about the lack of water,” said Jeff Laing, irrigation manager for Countryside Lawn & Tree Care. People have been asking him about digging a well, he said. Even then, “I have wells going dry every week out east,” he said of his customers.

Garden show expanding this year

Annie Calovich — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 07:09 CST

Wichita’s latest version of a garden show debuted last year and will expand just a bit this year when it is staged next weekend in Century II’s Expo Hall.

The Outdoor Living and Landscape Show will be Friday through March 3, featuring 130 vendors, seminars and garden displays. It drew 12,000 people in its first year in 2012, when it took the place of the long-running Wichita Garden Show. That show usually drew 35,000 to 40,000 people and was spread over five days and all three halls of Century II. But its expectations of grandeur had become too difficult and costly for garden centers to match and surpass every year, and 2011 was its last year.

The new Outdoor Living Show was designed to be smaller and more focused and was a success in 2012, said Brad Horning of Entercom radio, which puts on the show.

On the hunt for winter green

Annie Calovich — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 10:20 CST

Last week, standing alongside the rock garden in Botanica, at the base of the curved wooden bridge, I gazed around me and was astounded at the number and variety of plants I saw.

This is wintertime, after all. Many plants have lost their leaves, and some have even lost their stems, in their dormancy. (Of course, some, given the mild winter, have made an early 2013 appearance.)

But somehow I was struck more by abundance standing there in February than I am when I’m making the rounds in June.

Signs of early spring start to appear

By Annie Calovich — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 07:06 CST

I had a sense of deja vu as master gardener Janie Chisholm made one of my favorite observations of all time on Facebook: “Love, love, love waking up to the birds singing!”

I commented on her status update that the seasons do come around, but it’s been only relatively recently that we’ve been observing them on Facebook. I seem to remember Janie’s same observation last year — though perhaps later in the year than the beginning of February.

On the same day of this warm week, I noticed bugs darting about outside above the birds feeding and drinking in my yard. I’d been hearing more and more mentions of early spring, and seeing signs of my own, and it certainly feels like it’s on its early way. (Daylight saving time starts a month from Sunday, by the way.)

Gardeners may need to adjust to drier conditions

Annie Calovich — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 07:26 CST

As I wrote a story for last Sunday’s paper about the drought and the possibility of water restrictions in Wichita, it seemed that a different attitude was being brought to the use of water.

Even if it does suddenly start raining – even if it starts raining a lot – maybe we realize that we shouldn’t waste water even if we’re able to do so.

“Don’t try to make it green, make it more drought-tolerant,” Josh Cranmer of Cranmer Grass Farm told me last week when we were talking about the drought and possible water restrictions – and fescue. He was referring to that point in early spring when we set the tone for the rest of the summer. That is not the time when we should start spoiling our grass with lots of water. It’s the time to be sparing with water so that the grass grows long roots to look for water underground rather than expect it from above.

Tulip stems, onion seeds are among the bridges to spring

Annie Calovich — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 08:08 CST

One of the benefits of a walk through Botanica on a warm, sunny afternoon in January: two sightings of red foxes – one in the children’s garden, the other from the heights of the pavilion.

Walking through Botanica’s meadow is to remember summer and to appreciate the bones of Botanica that are hidden under exuberant growth in August.

It also reminds you that things are not so bleak during a drought; if you’ve lost some things at home, and if our common landscape has lost some of its gloss, at least we have a garden that we can be a part of where plants are kept alive.

Concolor fir keeps growing, even after Christmas

Annie Calovich — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 01:07 CST

A few days after Christmas, Susan Cooper was standing at the large window in her living room that looks east over a bend in the Little Arkansas River, getting ready to take down her Christmas tree – a concolor fir that she’d bought at Johnson’s Garden Center.

She’d long wanted a concolor fir, because they have large spaces between the branches for showcasing ornaments, but this is the first year she found one that looked good all the way around – a feature she needs because the tree is seen out that great window as well as from inside the house.

Susan had been observant of the tree, and had noticed that there hadn’t been any needles to speak of that had fallen off during the holiday season, even though the tree had been up since the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Shopping for seeds in winter

Annie Calovich — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:46 CST

Like Lucy from Peanuts joyously shaking a can into which Charlie Brown has deposited a nickel, I’ve been shaking my first packet of seeds of Garden Season 2013.

While I’m shaking, I can’t help but do it to the drumsticks of Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Is Coming,” still emanating from the CD player in my car.

I can’t do a whole lot more with them right now.

The mind reaches out to winter, looking for connection

Annie Calovich — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 07:42 CST

As much as I love Christmas, the clean freshness of the new year and a return to post-holiday routine are always refreshing and consoling.

So is seeing notices of garden clubs starting to get together again for their monthly meetings after an end-of-the-year break.

“Won’t be long until spring now” was my favorite e-mail received upon return from the holidays, from Patty Daniel of the Wichita African Violet Study Club.